Running to Security

You are an integrator, and imagine you could have any
installation job you wanted. What would you choose?
Would it be a well-known company, or a prestigious
location? What if you could have both?

Nate Wetmore, senior systems engineer at Short
Circuit Electronics has both, and he and the company literally ran
to the opportunity. Short Circuit has the contract and provides all
security services to a leading athletic footwear and apparel retailer,
and Wetmore recently completed a security install in New York City’s
Times Square.

He has a well-known company and an equally well-known location.

Short Circuit started working with the customer a few years ago
by servicing the existing quipment at their stores, and word quickly
spread among store managers of the quick, professional service they
were offering. Now, Short Circuit, based in Lee’s Summit, Mo., handles
all domestic security matters, including the four to five Mega
Stores, such as the one in Times Square.

“The larger concept stores have deployed all IP and 360-degree
cameras that all feed back to their home office,” said Grant Cowen, director
of national accounts at Salient. “Deploying our CompleteView
VMS, they are able to manage the video feeds more effectively, and
with the store in Times Square, where there are more than 100 cameras,
they have all the horsepower they need to look at video images.”

The Mega Stores are significantly different in their product presentation,
as athletic shoe manufacturers essentially have staked out
their own spot in the store, making it a store within the store. It also
means that Short Circuit installs more than 60 cameras in most Mega
Store locations.

“In order to ensure we provide the best quality security experience
to our customers, we install high quality solutions,” Wetmore
said. “We’ve been doing installs for them for quite a while now. We
have the solution down pretty well by now.”

Wetmore said they typically install a Hanwha Techwin camera,
about 110 so far in the Times Square location, and power the entire
system with a Salient VMS.

“We like the cameras, and have been using them exclusively, in
each installation,” Wetmore said. “We also find they integrate very
well with the VMS, and the loss prevention staff appreciates the system
from their perspective as well.”

In the Times Square location, the building was a complete do
over. It was completely gutted, and the Short Circuit staff was able
to see the concept from the inside, ground to ceiling. The design of
the store is considered high dollar, high concept, in order to look a
certain way. All cameras had to fit the design of the open spaces,
meaning that many of the cameras were painted black, to blend in.

“Along with Short Circuit Electronics, we were able to be part of
a complete new installation of products, introducing new technology,
and offer complete coverage inside the store,” Cowen said.

The loss prevention team monitors store activities in a control
center, depends upon the right system to stay informed and required
the best solution to monitor video surveillance. Cowen said that all
the software technology is able to work seamlessly together, and it
gives the LP team a new look and feel.

“Our job for the customer is to provide the best field of view and
overview, as well as protect the entrance to the store,” Wetmore said.
“This is where the choice of security equipment comes into play. We
want to ensure that we successfully bridge the camera and VMS in
order to receive motion detection.”

Why Salient? They are a relatively small company but extremely
agile and willing to listen to the needs of Short Circuit staff. “They
also are completely open to integration to meet the need of the end
user,” Wetmore said.

Communication skills are vital to the Short Circuit team as they
have no field technicians on staff, but rely upon a network of nationwide
subcontractors. Short Circuit has an impressive client base of
more than 80 national chains, and support all facilities within the
various branded stores.

“We answer to somewhere between 60 to 90 service calls a day nationwide,”
Wetmore said. “That equates to tens of thousands of actions
every year. Because we work with so many national companies,
we are very good at the rollout of a security installation; it is done in
a hurry, and we do that very well.”

The Short Circuit record, of sorts, was upgrading the security
equipment at 6,600 stores in seven months. “This is why we rely so
heavily on partners who are nimble and able to react quickly, and why
we use a nationwide technical service team that is vetted and proven
to do a good job,” Wetmore said.

His nationwide team includes more than 1,000 field technicians
located throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

“All subcontractors go through a thorough vetting process,” Wetmore
said. “We recommend that they not only be involved in our
security work but have flourishing businesses of their own so they
know and understand customer service.”

For Cowen, a project that started a short two years ago may have
seemed like a marathon at first, but as quickly as they dove into the
work, designing layers of security, then introducing the software to
make it all run properly, it became a relatively
short sprint. The end user comes away with a tried
and true solution that is now duplicated at Mega
Store in Los Angeles, Chicago and other locations
in Times Square.

This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of Security Today.